


Born and Raised in Black and White

by MaxKowarth



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Western - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Not exactly Full Circle, Wild West AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 00:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18861925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxKowarth/pseuds/MaxKowarth
Summary: Wild West AU: Time is up for Sheriff Adric. He is forced to have a showdown with the most notorious outlaw of Alzarius County, Varsh.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [4thDoctorSpaceBohemian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/4thDoctorSpaceBohemian/gifts).



The frontier was a place anything could happen  
Flat heat, flies and the distant sounds of the horses on the wind all brushed against his senses. He forced them away and concentrated on the shadow separating from the mountainside.   
It was a familiar shape, one he had literally looked up to his entire life: from his earliest memories of being aboard ship to the bustle of the dusty streets of Alzarius County and now here, at the end of the road.  
‘Varsh.’ Adric called up to him. The shadow slowed, its hand moving to its hip. It laughed wearily.  
‘Oh that’s just priceless. Marshall Draith must really be desperate to stick a star on your scrawny hide.’  
‘I earned this, Varsh. I took the tests, I signed the oaths. And look at me; I’m still out here in the wastelands hunting out you and your gang.’  
‘I hope you brought one hell of a posse. We ain’t going down without a fight.’   
Adric held his ground, perfectly aware of the other two shadows trying to circle him. Tylos and Keara had to be.   
Omril was too clumsy to sneak that far.

‘I’m not here to fight you Varsh, Just here to give you a warning. Fall’s coming and the city gate’s gonna be shut tight by sundown.’

Varsh’s laugh was bitter this time. ‘You don’t think we’re gunna fall for that Injun hoojah about creatures in the fog?’  
‘There’s truth to it.’ Adric called back ready to play his first hand ‘Draith’s dead, he went out into the night, not much made it back.’

Keara and Tylos paused in their advance. Adric could hear the whispers and uncertainty. They’d heard something in the night that was clear.

‘Please Varsh, I’m not here to take you in. There’s a place for you, all of you, if you turn yourselves over.’  
‘Sure there is, a nice warm cell’  
‘It’s better than a shallow grave!’ Adric yelled, trying to keep the pleading out of his voice.  
‘Run along now little sheriff, while you still can.’ Varsh stood straighter, the arm at his hip floating further towards his sidearm.

Adric let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding and let his own hand drift south.  
The frontier was a place anything could happen; Creatures in the fog, outrageous thefts, loyal lawmen, priests and sinners.  
Brother versus brother in the glare of the noonday sun.


	2. On a Country Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more of Full Circle in a Western style, Sheriff Adric on the front line against a living myth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack: https://youtu.be/lsPwrxiZA04 Chase Holdfelder's Minor Key cover of Country Roads.

_Life is old there, older than the trees_

Fierce hoof beats silenced in an instant with a choked whinny. The fog hides the last moments of the animal from the knot of strange bedfellows as they retreat towards town. Sheriff Adric reloads his pistol and tries to offer it to the English Doctor. He quails at the expression on the man’s face.  
‘I never touch them, nothing good comes of it.’ His warm baritone cuts the mist as easily as his eyes pierce the young man’s soul.   
‘Nothin’ good came of your gal petting them damned Wentiko’ Varsh growled without taking his eyes off the tree line.  
‘I told you, Wendigo are a myth.’ Adric argues. ‘An excuse for pathological behaviours, especially greed.’  
‘Next you’ll be telling me I’m gunna fit right in!’ Varsh growled. His tone was answered from the fog by one of the creatures.  
‘Omril?’ Keara sobbed, recognising their former friend’s voice.  
Varsh raised his rifle.

_Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze_

Cordite joined the mist as shot after shot rang out. Adric could feel it clawing at his throat as he ran, his aim barely keeping clear of his companions.   
The church bell tolled from somewhere nearby and he knew they were close to the heavy wooden walls of the town. But the fog had them now; surrounding them and distorting even the sound of their breath.   
Tylos screamed, his body becoming a blur as he fell. Adric aimed at the place he had been and fired. Something yelped.  
Varsh was kneeling, helping his fallen friend. Tylos took his chance to run harder than ever in hope of sanctuary.  
Sherriff Adric swore as his pistol clicked home to an empty chamber. Suddenly his brother was at his side, gun belt in hand.   
‘I can’t take that.’ He told Varsh, unable to keep the fear from his voice.   
‘Just you bring it back loaded.’ Varsh grinned and shouldered his rifle. ‘Go!’ he ordered before pulling the stick of dynamite from his pocket and shortening the fuse with his teeth.  
Adric couldn’t look away from the notorious outlaw as he strode into the fog. Four more shots rang out but Sheriff Adric was running before the crump of the dynamite closed that chapter of his life.

_Take me home, to the place I belong._

The English Doctor strode out from the town gates, armed solely with a dog whistle and a disarming grin.  
Sherriff Adric stood at his side, his brother’s gun belt heavy on his hip. The weight of Marshall Login’s eyes on his back was even heavier.   
He checked the pistol one more time. The Doctor’s unique bullets spanned the 5 chambers and he prayed to a being he didn’t believe in that he wouldn’t have to pull the trigger.  
He peered up at the strange traveller by his side. The man’s careworn face was split by a grin around the dog whistle. Adric could almost convince himself he could hear the sound it was making. Then there was a shuffling ahead of them that brought his attention firmly to the fog.  
‘Ah!’ boomed the Doctor in a careful balance of fear and bonhomie. ‘Romana, there you are. What kept you?’  
The blonde woman looked almost human as she stepped from the fog, except for the teeth.  
Varsh was next to breach the space. Teeth and deep claw marks across his chest marked him out. Adric shifted to a more prepared stance. When he had ridden out to warn his brother what was coming he wasn’t certain he’d get through to him.  
But one look at the creature in front of him and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt that his brother was lost.  
The first he knew the pistol was back in his hand was the Doctor pushing his wrist back down.  
‘Let’s try my way first, hmm?’

_I get a feeling, that I should have been home yesterday_

The Doctor clapped Marshall Login on the shoulder and swaggered off toward his wagon.  
Sheriff Adric stared at his hands and the badge in his palm.  
I earned this.  
I took the tests  
I signed the oath.  
He clipped the badge back to his waistcoat, took the compass from Dexeter’s workbench and dashes to the flap at the rear of the departing wagon.  
He was just going to toss the compass inside. He was just going to help the man who had helped them.   
He climbed aboard, the outlaw pistol still on his hip.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from a track by The Highwaymen


End file.
